There is a staggering gap in the number of patients with congestive heart failure and the number of available heart transplants. According to recent reports, there are about 5 million patients with congestive heart failure, resulting in over 250,000 deaths every year. The number of available heart transplants is only about 2,000. The use of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) has helped bridge this gap. An LVAD is an implantable device that is used to assist the functioning of a failing heart. LVADs include a pump that connects the left ventricle to the aorta which pulls blood from the left ventricle and pumps it into the aorta. The pump is connected by a percutaneous drive line with an electrical wire to an external battery pack, which provides power to the pump. LVADs have evolved from the first generation which used volume-displacement pumps through axial flow pumps, to the latest continuous flow centrifugal pumps. Infection rates associated with LVADs are extremely high. A recent review from the Mayo Clinic reported that the infection rate for first-generation LVADs vary from 25 to 80%, and for second generation 30 to 50%. It has been determined that sepsis (infection) caused twice as many deaths as device failure. Infections also increase the cost to the healthcare system.
Therefore, there is a need for treatment modalities for preventing infection in connection with LVADs. Traditional means of preventing infection include treating the incision site at the time an LVAD is implanted. However, such treatments are not sufficient to prevent infection since the drive line offers a conduit from the outside to the LVAD and surrounding tissue. This disclosure describes an improvement over these prior art technologies.